Woodland

Aconitum napellus subsp. vulgare Albidum is a superb white form of the most popular Monkshood. Hardy, long lived and maintenance free, they are choice mid to late season vertical accent plants. The stiff stems are self-supporting with handsome leathery green foliage.

Aconitum napellus ‘Newry Blue’ is an outstanding old Irish cultivar with wonderful upright spires of the deepest rich blue that tower over the back of the border. Known for its dense spires, they are every bit as dramatic as you could hope for them to be.

Ajuga genevensis is used throughout the world yet this relatively uncommon form is less well known. This very well behaved, evergreen groundcover has deep gentian blue flower spikes and is by far the showiest of the species. It is often the plant of choice for smaller areas or along edges and pathways.

For most of the year Ajuga is a pleasant, quiet achiever, a very versatile low growing ground cover, with evergreen, rosette-like foliage that hugs the ground like an evergreen carpet but those weeks in spring when the blue flowers appear are simply quite magical.

Until a few years ago you would never have seen wild garlic on a menu, but these days is definitely a chefs' favourite. The whole plant is edible. The flavour is softer, more pleasant than cloves from garlic bulbs. The leaves have a vibrant colour that brings food to life.

This lovely woodlander makes a striking impact in the spring garden. The Irish-born exponent of wild gardening, William Robinson, adored Anemone nemorosa. Writing in his English Flower Garden in 1883, he begins by saying "there is little need to plead for their culture".

Affectionately known as the Snowdrop Anemone, Anemone sylvestris is a charming perennial with satiny white flowers. Blooming in spring, the buds emerge on bent stems, dangling downwards like snowdrops. As the flowers start to open the stems straighten and the flowers face outwards to soak up the spring sunshine and attract pollinators to its scented flowers.

Anemonopsis macrophylla is one of the most beautiful and elegant plants that you could wish for. Slow growing and rarely seen, it bears nodding, opalescent white flowers on slender elegant spikes, but this emphatic woodlander is not in fact difficult to grow if given humus-rich, semi-shaded conditions.

Anthriscus sylvestris is most characteristic of hedgerows, road verges and woodland edges. Our native Cow Parsley has a sophisticated form, with delicate, open, white lacy umbels, that from mid-spring to early summer look as though they're erupting from a well shaken champagne bottle!

Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenswing' is the most elegant and garden-worthy form of cow parsley. With stunning, almost black, finely cut ferny foliage the first year, it explodes the second year with delicate clusters of small white flowers held above the darkest of foliage. Use them for fillers in bouquets as you would Queen Anne’s lace.

Aquilegia alpina is a species-columbine that rivals the fanciest cultivars and has been grown in gardens for as long as the idea of gardening has existed. It is a clump-forming perennial with deep blue-green, downy foliage and vibrant violet blue nodding flowers in late spring and early summer.

Native to Canada and the US in all states east of the Rockies, this superb variety is quite unlike the usual Aquilegia. Growing just twelve to eighteen inches tall, with dark-green foliage and eye-catching, scarlet and lemon-yellow flowers which hang like drifts of softly illuminated lanterns.

Aruncus dioicus’ commonly known as Goat's Beard or Bride's Feathers is one of the most handsome plants for the perennial bed. Its leaves are large and it has an abundance of flowers and in the autumn it turns an impressive, autumnal yellow colour.

Pale greenish-white, pincushion-like flowers surrounded by a ruff of greenish white bracts are produced from June to October. The delicate Astrantia alba is perfect for naturalising in areas of moist, dappled shade. It works equally well in a woodland edge or in a mixed border.

Bergenia cordifolia is one of the most useful of all plants and worthy of a place in any garden. No other plant offers such quality, glossy, evergreen foliage at ground level. This sturdy plant can be planted in groups as ground cover, for edging borders or to provide a foil for delicate foliage plants.

This pretty little wildflower is a slow growing, long-lived plant with attractive spikes of rich pink-mauve flowers that are very attractive to bees and butterflies as a nectar source. The flowers, which rise from dark green crinkly leaves, keep their colour throughout summer and look stunning when growing en-masse.

Cardamine pratensis is one of the most beautiful and one of the best loved of our wild flowers. Found in moist habitats, meadows and damp grasslands, it bears long narrow leaves and supremely elegant flowers in late spring/early summer. It flowers at the time the first cuckoo starts to call.

Cardiocrinum giganteum is a truly spectacular plant, which produces glorious vanilla scented, trumpet-like flowers on stems up two to three metres tall. Most gardeners agree growing this rare beauty is well worth the wait. I suppose you do have to be patient to be a gardener. We all know the longer we must wait for a beauty, the more we treasure it.

Actaea cordifolia comes into its own late in the season, when multiple stiff and stout stems emerge from the base of the plant. It displays impressive long racemes of chalky-white blooms that are composed of numerous, tiny individual star-like, fragrant flowers.

Actaea simplex is a spectacular plant. With long, fluffy spires in pale pinkish-white that seem to float in mid-air. Stunning when grown in groups, while single plants have good specimen value, they add architectural height and late summer bloom to the back of a shady border.

What gardener with a heart and soul could resist the spring flowers of Corydalis, whose winged petals with upswept spurs suggest a flight of elfin butterflies. These woodland ephemerals are highly useful at the front of the border, with miniature bulbs such as crocus, muscari or scillas.

Cyclamen coum is adored as a cultivated ornamental plant. The flowers vary from white to rosy-purple with every hue in between and in such quantity to obscure the leaves. They open from early winter and continue unabated into spring.